The Old School Kung Fu Fest is celebrating its 10th anniversary with the largest retrospective of Taiwanese wuxia movies ever seen in New York City. Highlights include the U.S. premiere of "The King of Wuxia (大俠胡金銓)," a documentary about the famous director King Hu (胡金銓), as well as a new digital restoration of Joseph Kuo (郭南宏)'s "The Swordsman of All Swordsmen (一代劍王)."
The Taipei Cultural Center in New York is pleased to present this series in collaboration with Subway Cinema. The program includes 12 in-person titles on April 21 to 23 and April 28 to 30, as well as three online titles (available from April 21 to May 4). The program is originally curated by the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute and first presented in 2022, showcasing 29 movies produced between the 1950s-2010s in order to reflect on the history of the wuxia genre in Taiwan.
According to Wang Chun-chi, the head curator of the program, wuxia adaptions initially thrived in Hong Kong, and filmmakers used Taiwan's landscape as an ideal film set for shooting in the 1950s. "The Daring Gang of Nineteen from Verdun City," a Hong Kong production starring Josephine Siao (蕭芳芳) that will be screening virtually, serves as an example of a typical wuxia film from this time.
In addition, "Vengeance of the Phoenix Sisters (三鳳震武林)," a 1968 Taiwanese-language film, is included in the series due to its use of a hybrid style that mixed the wuxia genre with the traditions of Taiwanese opera. Yang Li-hua (楊麗花), the decade's biggest Taiwanese opera star and one of the most influential people in Taiwan, played one of her three leading heroic roles in this film. Wuxia's peak in Taiwan came after the success of King Hu's films in the 1960s. "A Touch of Zen (俠女)," "The Valiant Ones (忠烈圖)," and "The Fate of Lee Khan (迎春閣之風波)," all of which will be featured in this program, mirror Hu's themes regarding the philosophy of swordsmen and his use of aesthetics stemming from traditional Chinese opera.
The program also features works such as the "Tsai Ying-jie Trilogy" (named after the films' main character), Joseph Kuo's "The Swordsman of All Swordsman," Chien Lung (劍龍)'s "The Bravest Revenge (武林龍虎鬥)," and Ting Shan-hsi (丁善璽)'s "The Ghost Hill (十萬金山)."
Wang revealed that wuxia films gradually declined from the 1970s-1990s, as the genre migrated from film to TV and found massive success through primetime series. "It was not until Ang Lee (李安) and Hou Hsiao-Hsien (侯孝賢) returned to the genre that wuxia films were revived in Taiwan," Wang said in an introduction provided for the program. Accordingly, "The Assassin (刺客聶隱娘)," directed by Hou, has been selected to present his own unique wuxia style. Hou made this film to pay tribute to the wuxia films he saw growing up in Taiwan. It won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival as well as Best Film and Best Director at the Golden Horse Awards following its initial release in 2015.
For more information, please visit: https://www.subwaycinema.com/